Activities & Host Partnership Programs
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Inter-Cultural Leadership Development Program
During the summer, 30 high school students—half Israeli and half Palestinian—spend three weeks together at Boston College, in Boston, MA. During morning sessions, students receive arts instruction in either visual art or film. All art projects are collaborative, with Israeli and Palestinian participants working together in pairs. In the afternoon and evenings, trained facilitators lead discussions on the morning’s work using a process that creates constructive dialogue. Participants learn to speak in a way that others can hear them, ask questions out of curiosity rather than judgment, listen with respect, and honor each other’s experiences. Time is also dedicated each day to recreational activities. During the year the artwork becomes a traveling art exhibit and is shown at conferences, Universities and various venues around the US, and eventually worldwide, connecting thousands of people to the Artsbridge experience.
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Partnership Programs in Israel & the Palestinian Territories
When they return home, students continue their Artsbridge experiences in five satellite programs at established community organizations, where they serve as mentors to a new group of students. There are three Israeli organizations; Neve Shalom-Wahat al Salam, Beit Hagefen in Haifa, and the International YMCA in Jerusalem. There are two Palestinian organizations; The Palestinian Peace Coalition in Ramallah, and the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem. These satellite programs run for the duration of the school year. In these programs, youth create artwork that expresses their fears, hopes, ideas and everyday experiences. Three times a year this art is exchanged between Israeli and Palestinian programs to create a dialog using a strictly visual language. This year, over 140 youth are participating in the yearlong programs. Each year, another group of approximately 30 students will be selected from the satellite programs to travel to Boston College to participate in the summer development program. Each school year, these students will return to the Host Sites as mentors.
